Wednesday, March 13, 2013

After a break to complete my new speech and pronunciation
online video course, I’m resuming my blog with a guest blog I wrote for
OpenSesame, an online marketplace for eLearning products. I’ll say more about
the video product below.

Clear,
confident speech –

across a
conference table or across an ocean

International and ESL employees who work in American and global
organizations contribute valuable talents and diverse perspectives. When management
makes American English pronunciation training available, these
employees gain skills to succeed, contribute to their teams, and strengthen
the organization.

American English is the lingua
franca of business and a fundamental competency skill. Fortunately, clear
spoken English is a skill that can be learned, not unlike other interpersonal
skills such as teamwork, presentations, and time management.

Clear, confident American English is achievable

I know many employees who have significantly improved their
performance once their speech is clear, correct and confident:

managers who run
effective meetings and handle team conflicts;engineers who speak up on conference calls to offer good ideas
and challenge the status quo; physicians
who engage their patients and probe for subtle understanding; research
scientists who present their inventions at international conferences

These and many other professionals now possess a level of
spoken communication that is commensurate with their expertise and
achievements.

Employees are eager for communication training

Occasionally managers tell me they hesitate to suggest speech/accent
improvement for fear of embarrassing an employee. Just the opposite is true. Employees
realize that poor speech and pronunciation put them at a disadvantage. They
notice the “glazed eyes” of confused listeners, and feel their confidence drain
away when others ask them to repeat themselves.

These employees are eager to improve, but some come from
cultures where asking a manager for training seems impolite or disrespectful. Moreover,
finding professional-level training is challenging, while juggling a pressured
work schedule to attend an offsite class is nearly impossible.

Without confidence in their ability to communicate, employees
might defer to others when asked to present their ideas, avoid taking on a leadership
role, remain quiet in meetings, and lose out on opportunities to serve the
organization and advance their own careers.

A resource for ESL and international employees

OpenSesame now hosts Sound American: American English for Success
in Business, a comprehensive, business-oriented speech and
pronunciation video course designed for corporate learning systems and
optimized for tablet/mobile devices.

Pro-active employees who are eager refine their American
English can opt to study anytime, anywhere. Employees who are given the
performance review directive, “improve your communication,” can now source a
rigorous, comprehensive, and effective solution.